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Sugar
Americans consume about 160 pounds of sugar per person each year (compared to four pounds per person in 1776), comprising 17% of daily calories. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that table sugar and high fructose corn syrup added to foods and beverages in large enough amounts can be addictive and can trigger processes that may lead to liver toxicity, kidney damage, impairment of arterial function, hypertension, obesity, prediabetes, diabetes, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. When meat is consumed with added sugars or other carbohydrates like rice, a significantly increased surge of insulin can occur. In fact, meat protein may cause as much insulin release as sugar.
There appear to be no adverse side effects of eating too much whole fruit. The fiber in fruit may slow the release of naturally occurring fructose, and phytonutrients in fruit appear to block some of the uptake of sugars in the intestine. (For more on this, see the topic on smoothies.) On the other hand, extracted fruit juice, like apple juice, may have the same deleterious effects as sugar water.
Sugars differ in their nutritional value. Table sugar and high fructose corn syrup provide essentially no nutritional value. High fructose corn syrup may even contain mercury. In a comparison of sweeteners, two emerged as offering some nutrition (see date sugar and molasses).
Cocoa powder appears to be a better choice than dark chocolate for reducing bad cholesterol and boosting good cholesterol, as dark chocolate contains sugar. Commercial cranberry juice and Cheerios have added sugar, which detracts from their value as health-promoting foods.
Sugar consumption alone does not appear to cause hyperactivity in children.
The Sugar Association has lobbied to downplay recommendations against added sugars in the case of the World Health Organization’s guidelines and the U.S. dietary guidelines.
Artificial sweeteners introduce other, sometimes significant, health risks.
Image Credit: Pixabay. This image has been modified.
Topic summary contributed by Linda
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The Effects of Avocados and Red Wine on Meal-Induced Inflammation
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Does Aspartame Cause Cancer?
How should we parse the conflicting human data on aspartame (Nutrasweet) intake and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer?
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Does Paratuberculosis in Meat Trigger Type 1 Diabetes?
The majority of specialists in the field agreed that paraTB in meat and dairy likely represents a risk to human health and should be a high- or medium-priority public health issue.
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Meat Consumption & the Development of Type 1 Diabetes
Eating meat during breastfeeding is associated with an increased risk of type 1 diabetes, a consequence perhaps of meat glycotoxins or paratuberculosis bacteria that may be passed though breast milk.
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What Causes Insulin Resistance?
Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are caused by a drop in insulin sensitivity blamed on “intramyocellular lipid,” the buildup of fat inside our muscle cells.
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Would Taxing Unhealthy Foods Improve Public Health?
Increasing the cost of cigarettes through tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to decrease the harms of smoking—so, what does the science say about sodium, sugar, and saturated fat taxes?
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Does Diet Soda Increase Stroke Risk as Much as Regular Soda?
Sugar is no longer considered just empty calories, but an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. So what happens if you switch to artificial sweeteners?
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Chocolate & Stroke Risk
Dark chocolate is pitted against milk chocolate in a test of artery function.
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How Not to Die: An Animated Summary
We have tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity.
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Big Salt – Getting to the Meat of the Matter
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